From: Gene J. Thompson:R01F16A
                   SUMMARY OF PEARL LAKE AVALANCHE ACCIDENT
                          MARCH 31ST, 1996  12:30 PM
Snowmobilers Todd Ludeman 29, Dan Hartung 31, and Bill Haflinger 34 were high
marking on a 30  north slope just above Pearl Lake.  12 - 14" of new snow had
fallen on a previously developed ice crust in the past 18 hours.  About 12:30
one of the machines became stuck.  The other 2 members of the party went up to
help free the machine.  The avalanche released along a track trail about 75'
above the group.  2 people were caught, one with machine running, was able to
drive off the slide path.  The avalanche traveled another 225' down slope and
stopped on Pearl Lake.  Haflinger was partially buried and Ludeman was
completely buried.  Hartung partially freed Haflinger and probed a bit for
Ludeman with a tree limb.  Hartung left the scene for help which he had seen
earlier 1 1/2 miles bellow the accident site.  Ultimately 20 - 30 people were
organized into probe teams using tree limbs to look for Ludeman.  A cellular
phone on site was used to alert Mineral County Search and Rescue.  Ludeman was
struck in the leg with tree branch probe and dug out from under about 4' of
snow.  He was conscious and still breathing.  Total burial time was estimated
to be 1 hour.  He had made an air space which helped save him.  After being dug
out, 2 shovels were eventually on site, and warmed up all 3 members of the
party rode their machines back to their vehicle.  The county search and rescue
group was alerted and had departed for the accident scene but were called back
when Ludeman was found alive.
Observations made by the on site witness I spoke with, Tom Bauer, which seemed
most significant.
1.  It had been raining on and off all morning the day of the accident.
Visibility was very poor.  When the clouds would open many small fresh
avalanches could be seen in the immediate area.
2.  Bauer said the prober that first struck Ludeman "heard something" when he
struck him.  Bauer said he defiantly heard Ludeman after they had shoveled out
about 3 feet of snow but had not yet reached the victim, still a foot below
them.
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From: Gene J. Thompson:R01F16A
Date: ## 04/08/96 13:08 ##
I just got ahold of Tom Bauer this morning.  Tom did not 
witness the accident but was in the first group to show up on site.  
He knew the victim and had ridden with him before.  All 3 were 
members of the local snowmobile club but were not what Bauer called 
"meeting goers".  Ludeman and Haflinger were described as mountain 
climbers rather than trail riders with lots of experiance.  Bauer 
said he had become concerned earlier that morning when he saw the 
recent slide activity.  
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From: Doug Abromeit:
Date: ## 04/10/96 08:38 ##
Its great when people survive; this is the story of one lucky man.  
It is practically unheard of for a person to survive an avalanche 
burial for an hour, especially when they are 4 feet deep like this 
guy was.